A reader comprising: a panel; two antennae each associated with a respective race to transmit and/or receive information to/from an electronic animal tag in that respective race; and an electromagnetic shield to impede an antenna from transmitting and/or receiving information to/from an electronic animal tag not located in the respective race of that antenna; a system for reading electronic animal tags comprising: a plurality of readers each located at or near a wall of a respective plurality of races, wherein each reader is at least partially shielded by an electromagnetic shield; each reader being longitudinally offset with respect to at least one other reader in the plurality of readers; and methods of constructing and using a reader.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A system for reading electronic animal tags comprising: a plurality of two or more readers, each reader located at or near a wall of a respective plurality of races; wherein each reader has at least one antenna; wherein the antenna in a reader is associated with a single race to produce an electromagnetic field spanning that race; each reader is impeded from transmitting or receiving information to or from an animal tag not located in that respective race by at least one electromagnetic shield; each reader being longitudinally offset with respect to at least one other reader in the plurality of readers.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein for every race in the plurality of races, there are two readers with antenna associated with that race.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the two readers associated with a specific race are longitudinally offset from one another.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein each reader is impeded by at least two magnetics shields.
5. A system according to claim 1, wherein each reader constitutes a part of a panel, and wherein the respective panels of the two or more readers are identical to one another.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the panel is formed at least in part of plastic or fiberglass.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein each antenna comprises a coil, wherein each coil is substantially circular or pentagonal in shape, and wherein each coil is configured to be used in a Helmholtz configuration.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic shield comprises a conducting mesh, wherein the conducting mesh is electrically grounded or electrically floating, and wherein the apertures of the conducting mesh are elliptical or rectangular.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the conducting mesh is configured to impede electromagnetic radiation of frequencies falling within a range of at least one of: 918-926 MHz; 13.553-13.567 MHz; 6.765-6.769 MHz; and 125-148.5 KHz.
10. A method of constructing a reader according to claim 1, comprising: providing two flat structures; providing at least one antenna in or on one of the flat structures; providing an electromagnetic shield in or on one of the flat structures; and joining the two flat structures together.
11. The method of claim 10, where providing at least one antenna comprises winding an electrical conductor onto at least one of the flat structures.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein providing an electromagnetic shield comprises affixing an electromagnetic shield to at least one of the flat structures.
13. The method in claim 10, wherein the joining comprises laminating the two flat structures together.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
February 8, 2019
January 14, 2025
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